Let’s just get this out of the way right now: Oliver North was part of a group within the US intelligence structure that sold weapons to Iran in order to raise money for a war Congress had specifically told the executive not to fund, because the people in question were also drug dealers. He admitted as much in public. By all rights, the man should be in jail, and it’s only through a few loopholes that he isn’t.

Granted, we’ve learned that a good chunk of the game takes place in Central America in the ’80s, where America got fairly adventurous. The Iran Contra affair in particular was very, very ugly, and actually a pretty good setting for a game about black ops.

The “Call of Duty” games tend towards historical revisionism of the worst sort, although that’s a consequence of gameplay decisions and marketing choices, not any sort of deliberate agenda. Activision just wants to sell lots of games.

But this is pretty morally indefensible; sure, Ollie knows all about black ops, but so do lots of other people who haven’t been convicted of major crimes against the United States. Maybe, Activision, you should have considered hiring one of those?

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From what I’ve read and have been told, Ollie was there as a poltiician anyway. He wasn’t that knowledgeable with the actual tactics and such of SpecOps.

In all hoensty, any guy who says he’s been deeply involved in “Black Ops” is probably bullshitting, mainly because he’d probably be admitting to a few crimes. That is why guys like Marcenko, Ventura and Haney should set off our bullshit detectors.

That is not to say that certai nevents didn’t happen or that the guys in question weren’t involved, just that things probably didn’t happen and they weren’t involved how they claim.

I know what the marketing department was thinking: he’s a recognizable military figure, he’s pretty good on camera, he was involved with the place and era the game is set in. It’s just nobody stopped to consider the unfortunate implications.

A combat veteran with two purple hearts, a bronze star, and a silver star, who also served as a battalion operations officer would qualify him as a decent consultant. And by all rights if he should be in jail, it would have been served 1989-1992.

I doubt that. There’s this weird netherworld that games like CoD float in: they try to paint the semblance of being geopolitically and historically accurate while avoiding anything that may offend anybody.

The result is, weirdly, its own statement in a way: there’s a longing for the Cold War in these games that can only be called a kind of false nostalgia for an era most of the personnel involved maybe saw the end of in grade school.

This brings to mind the “Nostalgia” episode of Pen & Teller’s Bullshit.

I’m pretty sure Bobby Kotic wake every morning and spikes his coke with infant blood. Oh btw expect more coca-cola product placement in Activision games cause Satan/Bobby is now on their board of directors too.

He sold arms to a hostile nation to fund a war in direct violation of the elected congress. The funds went to drug dealing thugs who raped and murdered their way through a war against a democratically elected regime.

I’m not a fan of Colonel North, but his record is clear. He is NOT a convicted felon, as his three convictions were overturned by a Federal Appeals Court. You can call them loopholes, or say the fix was in, but he is a decorated military officer who was accused of crimes, received due process and was ultimately not guilty. There is nothing remotely morally questionable about using him as an endorser. If you were tried, and at the end of the day, came out with a clean record, I’m sure you’d like to be afforded the same courtesy.